The trends and composition of mortality rates in children under five years of age, as well as the neonatal, infant, postneonatal and preschool mortality rates, and the proportional rate of death under one year of age, for the years 1970-1980 were studied. The associations between maternal reproduction and environmental and socioeconomic status were also studied. The basic data for an analysis of the trends were obtained from the State Health Secretariat and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. The study of the associations was carried out using information on the deaths which occurred during the months of July to September, 1982. The starting point was the death certificate, followed by home interviews. The results showed: a) a modification in the structure of the mortality rate; b) fall in the mortality rates in children under five year of age, with the infant mortality rate decreasing 41.6% and the preschool mortality by 45.7%; the fall in proportional infant mortality was 24.4%; c) families with deaths in the preschool age group present more livebirths and a seventeen month period between pregnancies for all the mortality groups; d) 46.8% of the deaths occurred in families with an income under two minimum salaries, the postneonatal and preschool mortality rates falling with increase in income, a situation which was not observed with regard to neonatal mortality; e) families with neonatal deaths were smaller and also had fewer children under both 14 and 6 years of age, than those with deaths in the older age groups; and finally differences were observed in the distribution of deaths per age-group according to different housing conditions and levels of maternal instruction but not to different sanitary conditions.
Infant mortality; Child preschool
